Most Hoteliers Oppose 2% Meals Tax, Survey Says

February 24, 1990|By ERIC CONRAD, Staff Writer

A proposed 2 percent meals tax that would pay to build a West Palm Beach convention center is more than county hotel and motel operators can swallow.

Despite a number of hoteliers who are undecided about the city`s civic center plans, a survey taken this month found that most hotel operators oppose a plan to tax people who eat at restaurants from Lake Worth to Riviera Beach.

``Everybody would like to have a civic center,`` said David Semadeni, president of the county Hotel and Motel Association, which took the survey. ``We`re very concerned about the cost of this.``

Developer Deutsch/Ireland of Fort Lauderdale is pushing the meals tax as a way to finance the $90 million center. Increasing the county`s 3 percent tax on hotel and motel guests is another option.

The developers say a center would bring 40,000 conventioneers to the city each year. Tourists and residents who use the center would eat 500,000 meals at nearby restaurants, the developers say.

Members of the Hotel and Motel Association are not biting.

Nineteen of 42 hoteliers who responded to the survey oppose the meals tax. Seven association members -- five of them operators of hotels near the center -- favor the meals tax. Fourteen are undecided.

Many undecided association members are leaning against the tax, Semadeni said. They feel civic center supporters are forcing people to take sides on the issue without fully exploring the project`s costs, especially what it will take to keep the center running once it is built, Semadeni said.

What the hoteliers fear most is the center losing money after it is built and officials increasing the bed tax on hotel guests to make up the difference.

George Zimmerman of Deutsch/Ireland said the company was disappointed with the hoteliers` reaction.

A key vote on the meals-tax issue will come on Monday when the county Legislative Delegation will decide whether to back a bill to create a special taxing body that would levy and collect the meals tax.

J. Charles Lehmann of the county Tourist Development Council, which supports the meals tax, said he was uncertain what impact the survey would have.

``It`s kind of like every other survey,`` Lehmann said. ``Do we want it to be built? Sure. Do we want to pay for it? No.``